Breath, In and Out
by Sunflower62
Summary: Who knew camping could be life threatening.


The boys and Grace and a friend goes camping and trouble finds them. Even though they honestly weren't looking for it. Like the previous stories this unbeta'd and any mistakes are mine. Hope there aren't to many.

H5O – H5O – H5O

Steve has finally persuaded Danny and Grace to join him on a camping trip. Danny agreed but with a few conditions and this is how the group of four, because Grace just had to bring a friend, find themselves at a self catering cottage in the State National Park. The girls were bathed and fed and playing inside the cabin with the truck load of camping Barbie and Ken dolls that had to come with.

The 2 friends were sitting outside by the fire and knowing the 2 of them they weren't sitting quietly.

Sitting back in the comfortable chair staring up at the dark sky with a myriad of stars on display Danny turns to his partner and with a smug tone in his voice starts a conversation. "Now is this not how camping should be Steven. Electricity in the cabin, warm water running through the pipes and proper beds with proper bedding. Camping just like I remembered from Jersey. We should do this more often."

Incredulously Steve stared at his partner and replied in a more than annoyed voice "No Daniel, this is not camping! Proper camping means tents, sleeping bags and hurricane lamps. Bugs flying around, insect repellant to keep them away, camp fire songs …"

"Excuse me! Bugs flying around. You actually want bugs to fly around and end up in your mouth and your nose! We don't need the extra protein thank you. We have enough steak and sausage here to provide said nutrients! We have the camp fire going as well in case you missed that! "

Not thrown off by Danny's interruption he carries on "as I was saying, camp fire songs, lying on the ground staring at the night sky. I was going to teach Grace and Emma about the different constellations tonight. Seems they are more interested in playing with Barbie."

"That's 9 year old girls for you babe. I'm sure they will realize soon enough that we have all the fixings for s'mores and then you can amaze them with your cooking talents."

"Danno, Danno Emma can't breathe!" Grace yells as she runs to the 2 men. "We were playing with our dolls and then she started struggling to breath. You have to help her Danno !" the girl pleads with her father. Confident in her Danno's ability to fix anything.

Both men were up and running towards the hut in a flash. Steve reaches the distressed little girl first and gentle picks her up and puts her down on the bed.

"Emma do you suffer from asthma?"he calmly asks. Knowing he needs to talk control of the situation and keep everyone calm and get them to do what is needed. He has seen a couple of asthma attacks in his life and panicking is not going to help anyone.

Struggling with her breathing Emma decides it's better to just nod her head in response.

"Good girl. Do you have your inhaler here? Did you take a puff?"

Struggling with her answer but focusing on the man in front of her she manages to get out "Not working. Took 2 puffs."

Turning to Danny he instructs him to get on the sat phone and call 911. They need them up there as soon as possible. "Tell them we have a 9 year old with asthma and that her inhaler is not working."

Danny doesn't need to be told twice and races outside to make the call. He will make sure that they understand the seriousness of the situation! Quickly making the call and calling Emma's parents to tell them to meet the ambulance at the hospital he returns to the cabin.

"It's going to take them at least 30 minutes to get here with the ambulance Steve. They said we should let her sit up and try and slow her breathing. Won't she be better off lying down?"

"No Danny, they are correct. She needs to sit up and lean a bit forward. It will help with the airway. Can you go and make me a cup of strong coffee please. No milk and sugar." Steve asks without looking at his partner. Concentrating on Emma and getting her to sit up and breathe slowly.

"Coffee ! You want me to bake you a vanilla cake while I wait for the coffee to brew Steven ! What kind of frosting do you want on it? This is not the time to think about coffee you idiot! Emma can't breathe and I'm freaking out a bit here ! We can have coffee when we get her to the hospital."

OK Steve thinks, I do not need Danny to freak out on me now. I have to explain this to him. "Gracie can you come and sit here by Emma and help her with her breathing. Breathe with her, slowly in and out, in and out, I just need to talk to Danno quickly."

Happy to be able to do something to help her friend Grace moves to sit beside Emma and slowly the girls start breathing again. Emma doing a little better knowing that the 2 men in the room are there to help.

"The coffee isn't for me Danny and please you need to keep calm. If you freak out Grace is going to freak out and that is going to freak out Emma and then we have a huge freak out on our hands and we don't want more trouble to deal with. The coffee is for Emma. The caffeine in the coffee will help dilate her lungs and make breathing a bit easier. She has her inhaler but for some reason it isn't working. I want to get her to drink some of the coffee and then she will take another puff and I'm hoping that will help ease things till the EMT's can get here. So please, just go and make the coffee. We need to get her to breathe easier. I don't want to perform any other medical procedures on her other than giving her the coffee and getting her to stay calm"

"What other medical procedures ! Steve what are you talking about!"

Sighing Steve realizes he will have to tell Danny a bit more in order to calm him down and get him to cooperate. "If she keeps on struggling to breathe I might have to do a cricothyrotomy. That should help till the EMT's get here. I have done it before on a mission but believe me it's not something I would like to do again. So we have to stay calm and make sure that it's the absolute last option. We are going to do everything we can to keep that from happening, now please go and make that cup of coffee." Turning his partner around by the shoulders he gently shoves him out of the door. If the situation wasn't so serious he would have given him a pat on the bum as he walked away!

What else did they teach you in Seal school Danny thinks to himself as he rushes off to go and make the coffee. Thankful to be doing something and knowing that his partner has everything under control. Hopefully the ambulance will make its way up the mountain sooner before they have to resort to the more drastic measure as explained by Steve. Knowing full well what a cricothyrotomy involves he hopes and prays that things don't go that far. Although he trusts his partner and is sure that his serious medical skills will pull Emma through.

Returning to the room where the girls were steadily breathing Steve moves to sit in front of Emma. "Your breathing a bit easier now honey ?" Scanning her face for any signs that the attack may have worsened in the couple of minutes he was talking to Danny.

"She's breathing a bit better Uncle Steve" Gracie answers. Having taken her role as support breather very seriously.

Smiling at her Steve thanks her for the excellent work she's doing and turns back to Emma again. "Honey, I need you to cough for me. That will help clear all the yucky stuff that is in your lungs. Uncle Danny is making you a nice cup of coffee as well and when you drink that it will also help open up your lungs. Then we will try your inhaler again and see if that helps ok? Gracie and I are going to sit right here next to you so don't be scared. The ambulance will be here before you know it and then I will go with you to the hospital. Your mom and dad will be waiting for you. Gracie and Uncle Danno will follow in the truck."

Nodding her understanding she coughs a couple of times as requested and it does seem to help ease the breathing a bit. She coughs up some phlegm and Steve quickly takes care of it before the sight of it gets her breathing up again.

"Slow and steady honey" Steve keeps on encouraging her.

Danny enters the room with the coffee and goes to sit next to her on the other side. "Here you go Emma. Take a couple of sips. I'm sorry there is no sugar or milk in here but the coffee needs to be black to help you. Once you are better I promise we will all go for some shaved ice ok?" Helping her hold the warm cup she manages to drink half of the cup.

"Good girl Emma" Steve encourages. Taking the inhaler from the bedside table he holds it to her mouth and together they manage to get 2 puffs into her. Taking the puffs sets Emma off on a coughing fit and once it has passed her shoulders sag and there are tears freely dripping from her eyes. "I'm tired" she manages to say in between taking breaths and coughing.

Not knowing what else to do and the father instinct coming out to strong in him Danny picks her up and pull her into his lap. "I know sweetheart but you need to hang in there just a little bit longer. The ambulance will be here soon and then we will get you to the hospital ok. You are so brave and doing so well. Just keep on with those slow breaths. In and out, in and out."

The sight of her best friend struggling to breathe scares Grace but she is putting on a brave face, not wanting to scare her friend any more than she already is. Now Steve's instinct kicks in and he picks her up and says "While Danno and Emma wait here why don't we go and check to see if we can hear or see the ambulance?"

"OK" comes the reply as she snuggles into Steve and smiles at her father and her friend as they leave the room to go outside and wait for the ambulance. They just made it out of the front door when they see and hear the ambulance pulling up to the cabin.

The EMT's run up to Steve and Grace. Recognising him from crime scenes they have attended with Five-O no introductions are necessary. "What do we have Commander ?"

"Hi Paul" he greets the paramedic. "Nine year old female, sudden onset asthma. They were playing when it started. She has taken 4 puffs but it doesn't seem to help much. We have her sitting up and got her to drink some coffee. That seemed to help a bit."

Moving quickly they get her hooked up to an IV and the O2, pushing whatever meds is needed to help ease the breathing, while taking her vitals. "OK, we need to get her out of here. Who is coming with to the hospital?" Paul asks all the while getting her strapped to the gurney and moving out of the house with his partner.

"I'll go with" Steve replies. "Danny will meet us there. Her parents have been informed and they should already be there waiting."

"Go babe. I'm just going to douse the fire, and switching off everything here. I'll call Emma's parents with an update and we will see you there." Picking up his daughter for a hug and a cuddle Danny quickly moves to the fire and then the house making sure everything is shut off and safe.

"Is Emma going to be ok daddy?" Gracie asks with a quiver in her voice.

"She is going to be fine monkey. They have all the medicine and oxygen she needs in the ambulance and you know your Uncle Steve won't let anything happen to her. When we get to the hospital we might not be able to see her for a while but that is only because the doctors are helping her and giving her medicine that will open up her lungs. Once she is moved to a room I am sure they will allow us to see her quickly. They will want her to sleep to help her get better so we might not be able to stay long but I promise you we will go and visit her in the morning ok ?" Hoping his explanation has helped to ease some her fears.

"You know I am so proud of you. You were so quick in spotting Emma's breathing problems and getting us so fast really helped. You are such a good friend and once this is finished and Emma feels up to it we will come out here again for another visit. We will just make sure that we know to help Emma better so that if something like this happens again we will be able to help her faster. I love you money."

"I love you to Danno."

The duo makes their way down the mountain and soon catches up with Steve and the ambulance. Reaching the hospital they hang back to allow the paramedics to unload Emma and Steve goes in with her to give a run down to the doctors and answer any additional questions they might have. Emma's parents are there as well and Steve leaves them to be with their daughter after answering all the questions.

Forty five minutes later Emma's dad emerges and gives them a run down. They got there just in time and it seems that all the measures taken by the group at the hut helped her stay stable enough and they don't expect her to have to stay in hospital more than a couple of days. The doctors just wanted to monitor her O2 saturation and make sure that the lungs were back to full capacity. If the group didn't keep as calm as they had things might have turned out a lot worse than it did. Knowing Grace wouldn't rest before seeing her best friend she was allowed a quick hello before they moved Emma to the pediatric ward. They would all spend the night at Steve's house and then come back in the morning for a proper visit. It would take the 2 men a bit longer to fall asleep tonight, the adrenaline still pumping through their veins, but that meant they could make sure that Grace was ok and that nothing disturbed her dreams.

The next morning finds the trio of campers making their way to their fellow camper's room, laden with balloons and toys and books. She looks small in the big hospital bed but colour has definitely returned to her face and the two male detectives both let out a breath they didn't even know they were holding. They knew how the weekend that started with so much promise could have turned into a real tragedy. The only lingering effect left over from the attack is a slight cough every now and again but that too would pass in a day or so. Danny soon has the group in stitches with stories from his camping adventures as a child in Jersey. All was well with the world.


End file.
